help downgrade my win8 laptop to win7

shaqblogs2011

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Oct 19, 2011
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I recently got an Asus laptop with Windows 8 pre-installed.
however no one at home is happy or comfortable with it. I have decided to downgrade it to win7.
How do I go about it?
(i have installed multiple OS numerous times on my desktop. I have a win 7 disk)

How about the current license? Any options for retaining that?
 

RealBeast

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The key issue is whether your laptop has W7 drivers available. Until you determine that, hold off on the upgrade to W7. :)

Your W8 license is OEM but it can be transferred to another machine -- note that my earlier response was incorrect, but the problem is that you need to find a copy of the OEM disk that is not very available.
 

shaqblogs2011

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I have the required drivers.
How do I migrate the license?
 

Railhound

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Did you ever successfully downgrade? I find WIndows 8-8.1 a gawd awful operating system. Many features have been removed that were in WIndows 7 and the interfaces is extremely clumsy. I have sent an email to Asus to see if it is possible to install Windows 7 professional. Without that, I am going to return my laptop and find one that has Windows 7 installed.

I will post any response I get from Asus.
 

RealBeast

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Most ASUS models do have Windows 7 x64 drivers available, look up your model on their support page. I have migrated quite a few. If you find them then you can pick up a cheap copy of Windows 7 off EBay and UPGRADE from 8 to 7.

But before you do, I would recommend that you determine your OEM Win 8 key -- you can do that by running an elevated command prompt (right click run as admin) and type in the following string (exactly):

powershell "(Get-WmiObject -query ‘select * from SoftwareLicensingService’).OA3xOriginalProductKey"

Then find a copy of this ISO image that is the Windows 7 OEM version: en_windows_8.1_with_update_x64_dvd_4065090

That will allow you to use Windows 8 on another machine or give it to somebody you don't really like. :D